Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Gulf of Cadiz lies astride the complex plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia west of the Betic-Rif mountain belt. We report on the results of recent bathymetric swathmapping and multi-channel seismic surveys carried out here. The seafloor is marked by contrasting morphological provinces, spanning the SW Iberian and NW Moroccan continental margins, abyssal plains and an elongate, arcuate, accretionary wedge. A wide variety of tectonic and gravitational processes appear to have shaped these structures. Active compressional deformation of the wedge is suggested by folding and thrusting of the frontal sedimentary layers as well as basal duplexing in deeper internal units. There is evidence for simultaneous gravitational spreading occurring upslope. The very shallow mean surface and basal slopes of the accretionary wedge (1° each) indicate a very weak decollement layer, geometrically similar to the Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex. Locally steep slopes (up to 10°) indicate strongly focused, active deformation and potential gravitational instabilities. The unusual surface morphology of the upper accretionary wedge includes “raft-tectonics” type fissures and abundant sub-circular depressions. Dissolution and/or diapiric processes are proposed to be involved in the formation of these depressions.
ISSN: 0264-8172

insu-00401683
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00401683
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2007.11.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Dudley et al. [9] commented on our paper [11], arguing that the current IUCN objective-based categorization ofprotected areas, which is also used in marine protected areas (MPAs), should not be abandoned and replaced bythe new regulation-based classification system [11]. Here we clarify that we do not advocate replacing thecurrent IUCN categories, but highlight the benefits of using both the objective-based IUCN categories and thenew regulation-based classification when applied to MPAs. With an increasing number of MPA types beingimplemented, most of them multiple-use areas zoned for various purposes, assessing ecological and socioeconomicbenefits is key for advancing conservation targets and policy objectives. Although the IUCN categoriescan be used both in terrestrial and marine systems, they were not designed to follow a gradient of impacts andthere is often a mismatch between stated objectives and implemented regulations. The new regulation-basedclassification system addresses these problems by linking impacts of activities in marine systems with MPA andzone classes in a simple and globally applicable way. Applying both the IUCN categories and the regulationbasedclasses will increase transparency when assessing marine conservation goals.
ISSN: 0308-597X

hal-01469541
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01469541
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpol.2016.11.025

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU) American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Environmental magnetism of speleothems is still in its early stage of development. Here we report on our investigation of the environmental and paleomagnetic information that has been recorded in speleothems, and what are the factors that control its preservation and reliability. To address these issues, we used a multidisciplinary approach, including rock magnetism, petrography, scanning electron microscopy, stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions, and major and trace element concentrations. We applied this to a set of samples from different stages of speleothem evolution: present-day dripwater (glass plates), a weathered stalactite, a fresh stalagmite, cave sediments, and terra rossa soils. These samples come from the Penico and Excentricas caves, located in two distinct aquifers of the Algarve region, South Portugal. Our results show that the main magnetic carriers of the speleothems under study are primary (detrital) and consist of maghemite (and magnetite?). Similarities in coercivity and temperature dependence of the studied set of samples suggest that iron oxides are inherited from the terra rossa soils that cap the cave and were transported to the speleothems by dripwater. Hence, they represent a regional environmental signature. Interestingly, a stable and probably detrital remanent magnetization could be isolated in the fresh stalagmite, whereas the weathered stalactite yielded chaotic magnetic directions and very low remanent intensities. We propose that these low intensities can be the result from (i) different remanence acquisition mechanisms between stalagmite and stalactite and/or (ii) iron dissolution by fungal activity. We also suggest that magnetic properties and color and the content in detrital elements in the fresh speleothem inform about environmental processes acting on the interface of rock (soil)-atmosphere, while oxygen isotope composition and alkaline-earth element concentrations inform about calcite-water interaction processes. These results provide a better understanding of how environmental information is recorded in speleothems and what the factors are that control the reliability of the paleomagnetic and paleo-environmental signal.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-01114953
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01114953
DOI : 10.1002/2014JB011381

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Outbreaks of the corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci (COTS) represent one of the greatest disturbances to coral reef ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific, affecting not only coral reefs but also the coastal communities which rely on their resources. While injection approaches are increasingly used in an attempt to control COTS densities, most of them display severe drawbacks including logistical challenges, high residual environmental impacts or low cost-effectiveness. We tested a new alternative control method based upon acidic injections of cheap, 100% natural products. We investigated the lethal doses, intra-and inter-specific disease transmission and immune responses of COTS when injected with fresh lime juice (extracted from local Citrus arantifolia) and white spirit vinegar. High COTS mortality was achieved with small volumes: 10–20 ml per seastar induced death in 89%/ 97% of injected specimens after an average 34.3 h/29.8 h for lime juice and vinegar respectively. Highest efficiency was reached for both solutions with double shots of (2 × 10 ml) in two different areas on the body: 100% mortality occurred within 12–24 h, which is similar or faster compared with other current injection methods. Multiple immune measures suggested that death was very likely caused by pH stress from the acidic solutions rather than a bacterial infection. Contagion to either conspecifics or a variety of other reef species was not observed, even at COTS densities 15 times higher than the highest naturally reported. 10 to 20 l lime juice/vinegar could kill up to a thousand COTS at a cost of less than 0.05 USD per specimen; no permits or special handling procedures are required. We conclude that injections of lime juice and vinegar offer great advantages when compared to current best practises and constitute a cheap and natural option for all reefs affected by COTS.
ISSN: 1932-6203

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01208272
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272/file/journal.pone.0137605.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0137605

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In the Gulf of Cadiz key segment of the Africa-Iberia plate boundary (North-East Atlantic ocean), three main different modes of tectonic interference between a recently identified wrench system (SWIM) and the Gulf of Cadiz Accretionary Wedge (GCAW) were tested through analog sand-box modeling: a) An active accretionary wedge on top of a pre-existent inactive basement fault; b) An active strike-slip fault cutting a previously formed, inactive, accretionary wedge; and c) Simultaneous activity of both the accretionary wedge and the strike-slip fault. The results we obtained and the comparison with the natural deformation pattern favor a tectonic evolution comprising two main steps: i) the formation of the Gulf of Cadiz Accretionary Wedge on top of inactive, Tethyan-related, basement faults (Middle Miocene to ~ 1.8 Ma); ii) subsequent reactivation of these basement faults with dextral strike-slip motion (~ 1.8 Ma to present) simultaneously with continued tectonic accretion in the GCAW. These results exclude the possibility of ongoing active SWIM wrench system cross-cutting an inactive GCAW structure. Our results also support a new interpretation of the SWIM wrench system as fundamentally resulting from strike-slip reactivation of an old (Tethyan-related) plate boundary.
ISSN: 0025-3227

insu-00643630
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630/file/Duarte_etal_2011_MS-1.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2011.09.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD PeerJ
Résumé : International audience
Coral reefs are in decline across the globe as a result of overexploitation, pollution, disease and, more recently, climate change. The impacts of changes in coral cover on associated fish communities can be difficult to predict because of the uneven dependence of reef fish species on corals for food, shelter or the three-dimensional structure they provide. We compared live coral cover, reef fish community metrics, and their associations in two surveys of the lagoon of the remote atoll of Mataiva (French Polynesia) carried out 31 years apart. In contrast to the general pattern of decreasing coral cover reported for many parts of the Indo-Pacific region, live coral cover increased 6–7 fold at Mataiva between 1981 and 2012, and fish density nearly doubled. The stable overall reef fish species richness belied a significant shift in community structure. There was little overlap in community composition across years, and fish assemblages in 2012 were more homogeneous in composition than they were in 1981. Changes in species abundance were not clearly related to species-specific reliance on corals. The strong positive relationships between live coral cover and fish diversity and abundance noted in 1981, when coral cover rarely exceeded 10%, were no longer present in 2012, when coral cover rarely fell below this value. The most parsimonious explanation for these contrasting relationships is that, over the combined range of coral cover observed in the 1981 and 2012 snapshots, there is a rapidly asymptotic relationship between coral and fish. Our results, and other data from the south and west Pacific, suggest that fish diversity and abundance might accumulate rapidly up to a threshold of approximately 10% live coral cover. Such a relationship would have implications for our expectations of resistance and recovery of reef fish communities facing an increasingly severe regime of coral reef disturbances.
ISSN: 2167-8359

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01135589
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01135589
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01135589/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01135589/file/2015_02_26_more_coral_more_fish.pdf
DOI : 10.7717/peerj.745

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a global conservation and management tool to enhance the resilience of linked social-ecological systems with the aim of conserving biodiversity and providing ecosystem services for sustainable use. However, MPAs implemented worldwide include a large variety of zoning and management schemes from single to multiple-zoning and from no-take to multiple-use areas. The current IUCN categorisation of MPAs is based on management objectives which many times have a significant mismatch to regulations causing a strong uncertainty when evaluating global MPAs effectiveness. A novel global classification system for MPAs based on regulations of uses as an alternative or complementing the current IUCN system of categories is presented. Scores for uses weighted by their potential impact on biodiversity were built. Each zone within a MPA was scored and an MPA index integrates the zone scores. This system classifies MPAs as well as each MPA zone individually, is globally applicable and unambiguously discriminates the impacts of uses.
ISSN: 0308-597X

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
hal-01358706
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01358706
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01358706/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01358706/file/1-s2.0-S0308597X16300197-main.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpol.2016.06.021